Yellow Mountain China Tour | Hunagshan Scenic Area, Anhui, Travel Guide & Review

Who doesn’t know that China is a massive country? There is simply too much to see and explore. I live and work in Suzhou – and always endeavor to keep moving. In July 2018 I decided to visit Huangshan city (Anhui province) and had a memorable time exploring the scenic areas. Now I’m in the process of summarizing all the key observations from my Huangshan trip. As such, there are so may scenic attractions spread across the city and it’s better to plan a trip well in advance.

In my previous Huangshan blog-post, I discussed the logistical issues and a trip to Hongcun village. In this post, I’m going to share my memories of the Yellow Mountain China tour. A detailed cable car route and numerous Yellow Mountain photos are also included for your reference.

• HefeiCity, Anhui, China, Travel Review

top things to do in Huangshan city

Let me quickly point you to all my Huangshan city travel blogs that I’d collectively refer as a Huangshan travel guide-

1. Huangshan logistics and general travel issues,
2. Hongcun village (宏村, Hóngcūn),
3. Yellow Mountain – Huangshan scenic area (黄山风景区, Huángshān fēngjǐng qū) – covered in this post,
4. Huangshan Hot Springs (黄山温泉, Huángshān wēnquán),
5. Xidi village (西递, Xī dì).

Yellow Mountain Brief

The Huangshan Mountain is nearly 100 million years old. The mountain is world famous for its unique rock formations.

Some of the peaks are more than 1000m tall. The tallest peaks include Lotus Peak (Lianhua Feng, 1,864 m), Bright Peak (Guangming Ding, ~1,840 m), Celestial Peak (Tiandu Feng, ~1,830 m), etc.

Nearly 140 sections of the mountain are now open for public.

The Yellow Mountain has long been a topic of interest in Chinese poetry, literature, paintings, and various other artworks.

In year 1990 it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.

yellow mountain china map

Let me show you the Baidu travel Map of Yellow Mountain scenic area (please learn basic Mandarin Chinese). A couple of stations from the Huangshan cable car map are also included-

How to get to mountain peak

Well, as mentioned earlier, there are multiple peaks in the Yellow Mountain and the routes may vary.

Let me give you some general tips.

First of all, you’ll need to get to Tankou (check out more details in my previous post). Once in Tankou, you could use the following options to get to the mountain peaks-

1. Climb all the way to the peak – pay only the mountain entrance fee,
2. Buy a bus ticket at Tankou bus station (RMB 19) and reach the cable car station (located in the mountain). Then use the cableway to get to the peak -you’ll pay cable car fee (RMB 80 or 90), park entrance ticket (RMB 230),
3. Buy bus ticket and reach the cable car station, but don’t take the cable car and hike to the mountain from the cable car station – you’ll save the cable car fee, but still need to pay the entrance fee to the mountain.

If you buy a cable car ticket, the ticket fee will include the mountain entrance fee.

yellow mountain china weather

I explained in my previous post that July is a peak summer season and it could be difficult to travel to Hungashan city. However, the weather in Yellow Mountain China was surprisingly amazing. There was just no summer in the mountain. The temperature was consistently less than 20’C. In fact, it was a great hiking experience in July.

I think apart from the winter season (mid-December to mid-February), anytime during the rest of the year is would be a good time to visit the Yellow Mountain China.

hotels on top of huangshan Mounatin

The sunset and sunrise scenery from the Yellow Mountain offer numerous breath taking views. If you want to see them, it’s better to plan spending at least one night in a hotel on top of Huangshan.

Here are the names of hotels on Yellow Mountain top-

1. Shilin Hotel Huangshan/Huangshan Lion Forest Hotel (黄山狮林大酒店, Huángshān shī lín dà jiǔdiàn),
2. Huangshan Lion Forest Cool Villa (黄山狮林清凉别墅, Huángshān shī lín qīngliáng biéshù),
3. Huangshan Beihai Hotel (黄山北海宾馆, Huángshān běihǎi bīnguǎn),
4. Paiyunlou Hotel Huangshan (黄山排云楼宾馆, Huángshān pái yún lóu bīnguǎn), 
5. Xihai Hotel (西海饭店, Xīhǎi fàndiàn),
6. Huangshan Yupinglou Hotel (黄山玉屏楼宾馆, Huángshān yùpíng lóu bīnguǎn),
7. Baiyun Hotel Huangshan (白云宾馆黄山, Báiyún bīnguǎn huángshān),
8. Huangshan Tiandu International Hotel (黄山天都国际饭店, Huángshān tiān dū guójì fàndiàn),
9. Huangshan Tianhai Family Hotel (黄山天海家庭旅馆, Huángshān tiānhǎi jiātíng lǚguǎn).

huangshan hiking trail

Let me give you a list of top attractions on Hunagshan hiking paths.

The entire scenic area is gorgeous, but the following spots are some of the best Huangshan attractions:

1. White Goose Ridge (白鹅岭, Bái é lǐng),
2. Black tiger pine (黑虎松, Hēi hǔsōng),
3. Harp pine (竖琴松, Shùqín song),
4. Shixinfeng (始信峰),
5. Unity pine (团结松, Tuánjié song),
6. Paiyun Pavilion (排云亭, Pái yún tíng),
7. The rings/loops north of the Xihai Grand Canyon (西海大峡谷, Xīhǎi dà xiágǔ) – check out
   • 经一环 –first ring
   • 二环 – second ring
8. Cichlid peak Observation Deck (鳌鱼峰观景台, Áo yú fēng),
9. Hundred Steps Ladder (百步云梯, Bǎi bù yúntī),
10. Lotus Peak (莲花峰, Liánhuā fēng), 
11. Dengtiandu (登天都峰, Dēng tiān dū fēng),
12. Tiandu New Crossing (新道口/天都新道口, Tiān dū xīn dàokǒu),
13. Banshan Temple (半山寺, Bàn shānsì),
14. Ciguang Court (慈光阁, Cíguāng gé),
15. Narrow Cliff,
16. Fair-walking Bridge,
17. Cloud-dispelling Pavilion,
18. the loop around the Xihai Grand Canyon,
19. Refreshing Terrace,
20. Beginning to Believe Peak.

Ticket and park entrance fee

Depending on how you prefer to get to the peak, here are some tips about the Yellow Mountain ticket pricing-

1. Mountain entrance ticket -this is fixed to RMB 230 (July, 2018). I had an old student card, and I got a 50% discount. So, I paid only RMB 115 for the entrance fee. 
2. Cable car (one way)– RMB 80 (Yun Gu temple) and RMB 90 (Yuping cable way). I didn’t get any discount and I paid RMB 180 (as I took the cable car from Yuping station).
3. I paid RMB 295 (115+90+90) for the tickets using Alipay.

Keep in mind that the entrance ticket is valid for up to three days. Two days’ validity is provided by default. If you wish to use the entrance ticket on the third day as well, please inform the staff while buying the ticket.

The Yungu Si Cable Car cable car was suspended

Initially, I wanted to take the cable car from the YunGu Si cableway. I waited for nearly 1hr for the tickets only to later I realize that the ticket sells has been suspended.

Reason- there were typhoons on the YunGu Si cableway side of the mountain. It was not very clear when the ticket sales would resume. We got to know that there were chances of typhoons coming up the very next day as well. So, what else we could have done?

Yuping cableway

We learnt that the Yuping cableway was still operating. I took a bus from the Yungu Si to Yuping cable way (direct, nonstop) for RMB 11.

The plan worked out. The cable car at Yuping were indeed operating. Soon I was able to buy a discounted ticket (RMB 115).

There were lots of people waiting in the queue-

Anyways, I managed to get into the cable car for an uphill ride. Soon, we were flying. 🙂

The views from the cable car were absolutely stunning.

Let me show you one more Yellow Mountain photo-

Yellow Mountain peak

In my case, after I got down from the cable car, it was just some 25minute walk to the mountain peak. The peak area was heavily crowded. The food was expensive – one small bowl of noodles would cost you RMB 35. Anyways, the scenery from the yellow mountain peak looked amazing.

How much time you need for Yellow Mountain?

Well, it totally depends on your hiking plans. If you take the cable car ride, you can cover a good portion of the Yellow Mountain scenic area within 3-4-hours of hiking.

But it’s recommended to stay at least one night on the top of Huangshan mountain. In case you don’t have much time, just take the cable car and a day long trip would suffice as well.

Yellow Mountain Cable car route, timing, pricing

Now, let me share some brief details about the cableways. The Yellow Mountain has 4 main cable car routes and I’d briefly explain each of them.

Route 1: Yungu Cableway

This is considered to be the best route and I’d highly recommend you opting for the Yungu Temple Cableway.

The cable car operates between Cloud Valley Temple (Yun Gu Si, 云谷寺– Yún gǔ sì) to the White Goose Peak (Bai E Ling, 白鹅岭 – Bái é lǐng). The one way 2.7km long journey takes roughly 8 minutes.

Cable car timings – Mon- Fri: 7:00 – 17:00; Weekends: 6:30 – 17:00.

Price: RMB 80 (Mar- Nov), RMB 65 (Dec – Feb).

Route 2: Jade Screen Cable Car

The cable cars on this route run between Merciful Light Pavilion (Ci Guang Ge, 慈光阁) to Jade Screen Pavilion (Yu Ping Lou, 玉屏楼). The journey takes just 8-9 minutes. If you walk, you’d spend nearly 3hours hiking to the Guest Greeting Pine – probably the most famous scenic spot of the mountain.

Timing: 07:00 – 17:00.

Price: RMB 90 (Mar- Nov), RMB 75 (Dec – Feb).

Route 3:  Taiping Cable Car

The Taiping Cable Car operates between Pine Valley Nunnery (Song Gu An, 松谷庵) and Pine Forest Peak (Song Lin Feng, 松林峰). The 3.7km long journey is covered in 8/9 minutes. The scenery along the way is absolutely amazing.

Timing: 07:00 – 17:00.

Price: RMB 80 (Mar- Nov), RMB 65 (Dec – Feb).

Route 4: West Sea Valley Cable Car

This is the shortest cable car route that operates between West Sea Valley (西海大峡谷, Xīhǎi dà xiágǔ) to the Stone Bed Peak (石床峰, Shí chuáng fēng). The journey is roughly 0.9km and requires nearly three minutes.

Timing: 08:00 – 17:00.

Price: RMB 100 (Mar- Nov). Closed in the winters.

Stay safe

The Yellow Mountain hiking trail is overall nice. Often, there are divider ropes separating the up and downhill trekking directions. However, at some places the road is quite narrow. The steeper tracks are also not uncommon. So, you should be careful while hiking the Yellow Mountain. Apart from that, there isn’t anything else to worry.

Do carry more water as you’d often need them. The water is available at some selected points along the route, but it’s super expensive. I paid RMB 10 for a 300ml water bottle (in Tangkou the price is RMB 2).

In summary, Huangshan is a wonderful place to spend your china vacation. If you like scenery and hiking, the Yellow Mountain is just the perfect travel destination – you’d love to travel over here.

That’s all in this Huangshan travel guide blog-post about the Yellow Mountain China tour.

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Wish you a great time with Yellow Mountain China Tour!

Cheers!

Last updated: Monday, August 20, 2018